clore

In all fairness to Edward G., it must be mentioned that he was a last-minute replacement for Broderick Crawford. The latter had started filming, but fell off his horse and had to be hospitalized. Make of that what you will, maybe he had too much cactus juice that day. Robinson was available and relatively cheap and supposedly Stanwyck asked him to come aboard. He was reluctant to do a western, but did it as a favor to a former co-star whom he admired. His only other western was also as a replacement - when he stepped in for Spencer Tracy on CHEYENNE AUTUMN.

When I was a kid, Tom Tryon was on TV in episodes of "Texas John Slaughter" on the Disney show. He quit acting and became a best-selling novelist, "The Other" was based on one of his books. You know Harve Presnell from PAINT YOUR WAGON (the only real singer) or THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, or more recently FARGO. He was the one that William Macy wanted killed. Ironic that Senta Berger was in both of 1965's cavalry films and both THE GLORY GUYS and MAJOR DUNDEE had a Sam Peckinpah connection. I haven't seen it since it came out so I envy your getting to see it again, even in full frame.

>>For at least 2-3 years, the new schedule always showed up around the third Monday of the month. Maybe they're going back to that. But tomorrow is the fourth Monday of the month.

Maybe they looked at the thread about overplayed films and realized that two-dozen of the usual suspects were scheduled for May.

>>My recommendation (as a pretend-studio-head, before the final film is released), is to cut about 30 minutes out of this film, show the wife, show her nagging, show Widmark and Mature actually committing a crime with the guy who?s mother later gets pushed down the stairs. And... have a few of the bullets to the stomach, chest, and body, actually miss Mature, so the scene will seem more realistic. Apparently a studio head did have second thoughts on the film. I read years ago that the narration was an after-thought, it was used in order to present a happy ending. There was another reason why none of the bullets missed Mature - the most obvious one. The wife was originally filmed, but Patricia Morison despite a credit on the film, was cut out entirely. She was to have committed suicide because her character was "attacked" by a crony of Mature who was supposed to be protecting her. Censors didn't like rape and suicide to be depicted.

>>There was a very minor supporting character actor that linked the previous film *That Touch of Mink* to *The Tender Trap* but I thought that was pushing it. Having known Joey Faye, I have to say that I was pleased to see him get a nod. I'll probably never again for the rest of my life get the chance to see him in two movies back-to-back. He was a very successful vaudeville comic, good enough that Abbott and Costello "borrowed" material from him. Between takes on *That Touch of Mink* he entertained Cary Grant with some of his old routines - at Grant's request.

>>"Night Passage" is one and from what I've read that's the one that caused the split with James Stewart and his long time director Anthony Mann and supposedly the reason was the casting of Audie Murphy. I've never been able to find out anything regarding this. Anyone have any info... From what I've read, the relationship was becoming strained anyway. Mann wasn't enthused about directing either THUNDER BAY or STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND, but did both as a favor for Stewart. The former title concerned off-shore drilling (and Stewart had such investments) and the latter related to Stewart's Brigadier General status in the USAF reserve. Supposedly Stewart's big thrill over NIGHT PASSAGE was getting to play the accordion and Mann didn't think that was enough to warrant making the film. Perhaps the casting of Murphy was the last straw for Mann. Ironically, in the next year Mann would direct Stewart's friend Gary Cooper in MAN OF THE WEST which had a few plot similarities to NIGHT PASSAGE, such as a train robbery, the encounter with a family member involved in the outlaw gang and a hero seeking redemption.

Sounds a bit like THE TWO OF US with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, but I only saw a bit of it and turned it off. Plus it came out in 1983.

I put 2010 (1984) and that may have confused them. Then I put NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1984) and they probably thought that I was being redundant. AIRPORT '75 came out in 1974, so I'm confused.

>>When I was a little kid, I think I believed the horse was actually doing the talking. What did I know? Mister Ed could actually talk, but his voice was rather tinny so he was dubbed by Allan Rocky Lane. However, Francis the mule was just a dumb a$$ and could barely nod his head.

>>Arthur Lubin, who directed all six FRANCIS films was also the producer and chief creator of Mister Ed, and directed 131 of the sitcom's 145 episodes. There was a seventh film, FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE which was not directed by Lubin, but by Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle vet Charles Barton. Mickey Rooney was the human star and Paul Frees did a Chill Wills impression while doing the voice of Francis.

It not only looks fuzzier, but it sounds fuzzier. Were I recording this, it would become a coaster.

BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS is THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN all over again, even including Robert Vaughn. Of course, that started life as a Samurai film...

>>Plus the delinquents from "Rebel" wouldn't last 5 minutes with the ones from "Jungle" I also doubt that even the wimpiest student in that school would have Alan Ladd's picture in his locker. It is interesting how many in the cast would turn out to direct a film in the future: Sidney Poitier Vic Morrow Paul Mazursky John Erman

>>I guess you cant expect RO to remember all the scheduling minutiae on the station, but you'd think the people writing the copy would be more careful and could check things like that. I just wish the teleprompter would emphasize that it's ParaMOUNT and not ParaMONT. A minor point for certain, but as annoying as when R.O. says Harry Cohen instead of Cone for Harry Cohn of Columbia.

I met William Conrad once, he was the brother-in-law of my boss at the time. As a favor, I was asked to do a little inquiring as to why CANNON was not being pushed into syndication by Viacom when things like BARNABY JONES and HAWAII 5-0 were doing well. My Viacom contact said they didn't sense much interest, so I then took a poll of our represented stations to determine interest. Long story short, CANNON soon entered the syndication market and I was introduced to Conrad at the N.A.T.P.E., an industry convention held in Vegas that year. We spent quite a bit of time together as I was full of questions not only about his acting career, but also his days as a director. He was connected to two of my all-time favorite TV shows, 77 SUNSET STRIP and THE FUGITIVE. I'd love for TCM to air TWO ON A GUILLOTINE and the 1965 film BRAINSTORM. Conrad got a big kick out of my pointing out that I roar with laughter whenever I see ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY and get to the scene where Darryl Hickman is fighting with him. He said that it made him cringe when they shot it.

Who would have ever thought that John Lund would get a night? Probably was more likely than say William Lundigan or Richard Denning.

>>I think its only fault is that Stewart's character seems a bit too old for the part he plays. Well, having him as an expectant father and having Dean Jagger refer to him as "son" (in a non-family manner) is a bit much. This was also an observation made by more than one critic. The slightly older Fonda escaped such comments as he's playing the "patriarch" of an outlaw gang - and he does look younger than Stewart. I haven't seen it in about 30 years, and not in letterbox for over 40 years, so I'm looking forward to the April airing.

Aww gee, did I miss what appears to be the weekly airing of this film?

>>Just wondering if those were censored, too. I did have the captions on and nothing was on screen for that bit.

Does anyone have a DVD copy of ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ? The reason I ask is because in the shower scene, just after Eastwood throws Wolf to the ground, we could see his lips moving - he's clearly saying something that appeared to be two words. But it wasn't audible on the print last night.

>>This was, by far, our most popular film on THE CBS CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL. It ran eight times between 1967 and 1972. It was also the very first, wasn't it? Congrats on surviving so many managerial changes at CBS. I did a two-year stint as Director of Broadcast Adminsitration at WCBS during the Tisch era.

And another piece of chalk and a new body for our friend Daniel.

>>I need to see this again. I put it in my Netflix queue.. I keep thinking there is a scene with Dominique (get it? Domin- ique / nance --Ayn cannot be subtle sometimes) where she has a whip. Am I mistaken? Or naming the "villain" of the piece "Toohey" - the sound one associates with spitting. King Vidor really wasn't enthused about making the film, but he did so anyway. At one point, Cooper wanted to make a minor change in a line of dialogue, but when Vidor reminded him that a change could not be made without Rand's consent and that she would have to be called to the set, Cooper opted to do it as intended. Vidor thought the premise was flawed and fought with Jack Warner about it. "If I threw the film into the fire, do you think that the court would forgive me?" "The court might, but I won't" replied Warner.

Ya know what gets me about THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB? It came out a few years after FIRECREEK, but Stewart looks a decade older while Fonda looks a decade younger. I liked Stewart's gag at the AFI Tribute for his friend Fonda: "When he was 40, he looked 30. When he was 50, he looked 40. When he was 60, he looked 30 again." Edited by: clore on Jan 20, 2010 8:18 PM